Having to say goodbye and heading to Bucharest

View from where we stayed in Bucharest

I left you last time as we were driving back out of the Gypsy and Turkish suburbs, which were extremely poor. From here we drove to the Mangalia waterfront, which is I suppose the “night-life” section of the area… it all looks very modern with water features which children were playing in and families and couples walking down the boulevard, children in rollerblades etc. The marina was full of expensive yachts and pleasure craft and it was a really warm summer day. The only difference I thought stood out from what you’d see in a western culture was both the apartment blocks that lined the road (which were the communist looking buildings which always look like they’re in need of repair) and the fact that the women and men all seemed to be covered up and still wore jackets and long sleeves.

My bed's the one on the right- Bucharest

After a wee walk we went back for some Turkish tea at Faradins house, into the lounge/gathering room which they use for taking music lessons, meetings and Church on Sundays. Although the neighbourhood and exterior looked rough, the inside was very nice and was decorated in nice bright oranges and purples. We chatted for a while, his son and daughter-in-law were there too, talking of the difficulty he has in finding a job, and how he dreams one day of taking his family (they have a young child at the moment) away to Australia, which he has heard a lot of great things about and hopes he could get a job… finding the money for the tickets is the first hurdle to get over.

Among discussing the challenges they have in trying to reach the people, who are very suspicious of anyone not conforming or helping with no foreseeable gain to themselves… The majority of the Turkish population is Muslim, and their

Some awesome graffiti I saw

families threaten to disown them if they associate with Fardin, who is a Christian. It’s all very tiring hearing of Religious feuds, which Europe has almost constantly been in-and-out of for thousands of years. It makes helping those in poverty so much greater… when even if (like Faradin) you have food, clothing and help to give to those who live in terrible conditions, they refuse it because of long-standing prejudices. Sadly I’m sure this mistrust of people has some truth in its formation… no doubt there have been those claiming to want to “help” the poor, but who have hidden agenda in the long run.
It’s difficult for these people who have been abused, exploited and then neglected by so many Races and countries, to trust anyone anymore… it’s a lot easier just to give up hoping and aiming for a better future for yourself and your children if you’ve been constantly disappointed.

The conversation drifted to the local elections, just as it would in the build-up in New Zealand. Apparently the current Mayor (four year term) was suspended a while ago for some demeanour or corruption, all speak poorly of him and the last few years have been very difficult for the whole place, because “he doesn’t care about the people”  those poorer communities have seen no aid, and even those who were at least stable a few years ago are suffering for lack of jobs and money from the recession. Thankfully there is hope, they spoke of a Man who had previously been mayor for 8 years, who did care about the people. He was the driving force in the financial support Faradin and a few other Churches had been given in their projects with the poor, they hope that if he is elected that as mayor this good guy will be able to really change the way things are done, and use the community to help itself.

I hope this guy is elected too, I’d like to hear of Mangalia being given a break from all the difficulties and corruption it currently is battling with.
The night finished with a nice dinner out in a Turkish restaurant which served amazingly delicious food, I had some kind of minced meat and cheese thing rolled in unleavened bread, which I ate way too much of.haha.

Sunday was, as promised, a slower day to process all that had been, I went to two services, one in the morning was a more traditional Romanian service where the majority of the older women wore skirts and head-scarves. I got chatting with the young woman who handing out free coffee and tea and found out that she was heavily involved with a program housing 10 street children. I think she’s a lot like a house parent, cooking and cleaning and helping with homework, that kind of thing… although she said is was very difficult at times, it was great to see the progress the kids were making, and hearing them start to dream about going to university, whereas this was never in their wildest dreams a few years ago. I didn’t ask her about it, but I think that she actually used to be a street kid herself, I was told that there was a young couple working with

Victory Plaza, Bucharest... poorly translated ;)

them who had both themselves been rescued from the street, and that most of the community don’t know this about them.
If they were talking about this girl I think that perhaps her past is a blessing in disguise, because she would be able to connect with the kids in a way others may never be able to, because she had been in their shoes years ago.

The afternoon was stunning, and I ended up reading in the sun outside. Trying to reverse the “English tan” which is three months of pasty white ;) In the afternoon we visited the old town of Constanta, which I think they said had been around since the first century, there are still a few Roman ruins in the area (which is of course why the Romanian language came from). The architecture is really beautiful, but most building were in a state of disrepair… I remember walking down the waterfront and looking out at the calm ocean (and seriously missing the sea for the first time- still adjusting from the Navy days) and seeing the White stone Casino building on the edge of the water... This was one of the only pictures I could find of Constanta when I was doing my investigation of the place in NZ… the building looked stunning in all of its glory on a summers day

Monument in city centre

and the article spoke of how Constanta was a big tourist spot…  Perhaps it was a few years ago, but although the ocean and the sky were the same as in the photo, the building before me had broken windows, peeling paint and was run-down. Apparently it had only been out of use for a few years… but things change quickly here with the harsh winter.

In the evening we went to an International Church made up of mostly English speaking students from all over, Africa, Asia, Switzerland, Germany, they were all really friendly and it was great to see a place where they could come and be themselves. Leanne was asked to speak, which was a great thing being that only last week we thought she wouldn’t even be able to in the training session.
Afterward we went out with the couple hosting us and the main guitar player/singer music leader from Church who turned out to be rather hilarious. We went to a really nice Chinese restaurant and had a great time, sharing stories, joking and laughing… just having a good time. Some local Romanian wine was ordered and it was really good, perhaps one of the best red wines I’ve had.

Not the classiest...

Somewhere in the conversation the guitar player brought up the fact that Leanne had said she was over here trying to find ways Next Level and herself can help to stop the Human Trafficking industry here. He actually shared a rather personal confession that he had been approached when he was younger by a unit that was trying to prosecute those organising the trafficking (Prostitution is actually illegal in Romania and Moldova)… and they asked if he would go undercover/help them. After thinking it over he told them he didn’t want to, because he knew how dangerous it was (he spoke of how they would just take you in a van into a forest and “bang” you’re gone) and he was thinking of his future, that he wanted a family etc. He said life moved on but he always felt there was something missing, and he thought about the opportunity often and wondered...
He talked of how he worked in a business where a few girls would be brought to the building, he wasn’t exactly living right himself at the time but he still had a heart for them and knew what was right, when they visited he would just talk to them in the office and try to “plant the seed” and get them to think about themselves as people instead of just objects. He talked of how many girls from bad or poor homes are taught that prostitution is okay and a good way for them to earn money and survive, and that perhaps they will find a wealthy man who will buy them. They don’t see themselves as having worth it’s almost as if they’ve lost their sense of felling or being a human, sometimes their families sell them into the trade.

My favourite picture of the day- Bucharest

He used to just talk to the girls, treat them like people, he said the best question he could ask was “if you didn’t do what you do now… what would you want to do instead”, which challenged them to think about what it would be like in a different life, that they could actually do something else. Something “clicked” he said, and they came to him instead of doing what they were supposed to, and had begun to think about their lives. Soon after they no longer visited his place of work (there were men/guards with them anyway who didn’t like him talking to the girls) and he never saw them again.

We said goodbye that night and it was really sad for me because I don’t know what my future will bring, I want to work in some kind of job or organisation like I am interning for now, in the future… I want to visit these amazing people again, I want to help them. The man showing us around had already tried to convince me to come back and stay, and I’m sure they would help me and make sure I was taken care of, and there is so much to be done here… but I need to KNOW that wherever I decide to work, will be where I’m most effective and can do the most good. I’ll need to know that I’m called to be there for sure.

Very early the next day we trained back to Bucharest, the only amusing thing

Posters are plastered on every blank wall or fence...

about the journey was that we sat in a carriage with two other serious looking Romanian men, though half way through the ride, just as I was falling to sleep I was woken up by a loud sensual woman’s voice saying “Excuse me darling, you have a message”… all of us in paused a second… and then the bearded Romania guy grabs a cellphone from his tray table… everyone else held it together but I was grinning like and idiot and almost snorted. Haha.

I think perhaps this might be a good time to stop, I’m a little behind in days but that’s okay because soon I’m going somewhere I won’t be able to post for a while… I will when I can ;)

Much love to family and friends